Numerous and alarming cases of filicide, where parents murdered their children, have been registered in Durban. Among the documented incidents is the story of Rinaldo Elijah, whom his father Pravin Kubair took to a local park.
In 2006, in Chatsworth, Nikita Ellapen Pillai, aged 6, was beaten with a belt after returning from school in dirty clothes. Her father, who was 32 at the time, pleaded guilty to negligent homicide in the Regional Court of Durban in August 2008 and received a 10-year prison sentence, five of which were suspended. Post-mortem examinations revealed that the child had suffered from long-term abuse.
In December 2013, in Chatsworth, Mala Kandasamy and her father killed Megandran, 16, and Melaris, 18, using a club (Hanuman stick or gada). The father was sentenced to three life sentences for the murders, which were linked to marital problems. Mala, Melaris, and Megandran Kandasamy were killed by the father with a club.
In 2014, in Chatsworth, a three-year-old child named Jamie died after years of torture, abuse, and denial of medical care by his mother, aged 31, and grandmother, aged 55. The grandmother died while awaiting trial in April 2018, and the mother was sentenced to 20 years in prison in November 2018.
In 2015, Shahiel Seppudjun, aged 9, went missing in Phoenix, and his body was found four days later in a drainage ditch. He was beaten by his aunt, aged 31, and her mother, aged 54, after which the body was discarded. The aunt received a life sentence, and her mother received 25 years in prison in November 2016.
In April 2017, in Phoenix, Rinaldo Elijah, aged 7, was taken to a local park by his father, aged 30, and strangled with a rope. In his statement, he said he intended to kill his four-year-old daughter as well, but she fell asleep. He was sentenced to 25 years in October 2018.
In November 2021, children—Siblings Jayden Naidu, 13, Jordan Chetty, 8, Oldrin Chetty, 4, and their cousin Liam Naidu, 8—and their mother, Elisha Chetty, died in Phoenix. Their father, aged 59, poured gasoline into their one-room apartment and set it on fire. In December 2023, the father was sentenced to five life sentences and an additional 49 years in prison for the murders and arson.
In June 2024, in Ballito, a mother named Madeleine Ackerman, aged 47, was sentenced to 18 years in prison. She pleaded guilty to drowning her four-year-old daughter in a bucket of water in April 2022.
In May 2025, the body of Jayden Lee Mika, aged 11, was found in Roodepoort several hours after his mother reported him missing. The lifeless, partially clothed body was discovered on the stairs, meters from the house. His mother is currently in court in the Johannesburg High Court on the murder charge.
In February 2026, in Tongaat, Leon Munsami poisoned his two daughters, Amelia Hope, 6, and Elena Fate, 4, allegedly by adding poison to their McDonald's food. He was found hanged near their lifeless bodies.